The Pauper and the Prince
by Girlof1000NickNames
Summary: Just when Seto seems to have lost it all, he finds something all new.
1. Meltdown

**Okay's, don't hate me. So I was supposed to be working on my Puffshipping fic, but I took a nap the other day and when I woke up this was going through my head. I'm sorry to anyone if I appear to be stealing this idea from them; it's not on purpose, but this does seem like a bit of a cliche theme. **

**So here's how it is... **

**Summary: Just when Seto seems to have lost it all, he finds something all new. S/J Yaoi, maybe lemon later. Don't like, don't read. Some cussing. This is how text goes; **_'thinking' _"talking" _"Mokuba on the phone"_ **I think that's all. Please read on.**

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"I'm only going to be here about half an hour," Seto Kaiba told his limo-driver, as he stood outside the cluster of little office buildings. "But in the meantime, I need you to go pick up Mokuba from his school. I won't be needing my paperwork, so I'm also leaving my briefcase in the backseat. Please remind Mokuba to take it to my office when he gets home."

"Yes, Sir."

"Afterwards, I'll call when I need to be picked up. It shouldn't take very long."

"Of course, Sir. Shall I bring any requests to the cook for your supper?"

Seto took a minute to think. "No," he decided, "I'll let Mokuba decide." He knew his kid brother would think of something good, and would be considerate of his big brother's eating habits.

"Very good, Mr. Kaiba. Then I will be waiting for you to call for me."

"Oh, and Isono."

"Yes, Sir?"

"Thank you."

"Of course, Sir." With that, Isono started up the long black vehicle, and headed off in the direction of Mokuba's school. As Seto watched him leave, he thought back on all the people in his life that could not be trusted. There was a very, very long list. Smiling, he reminded himself that Isono was not one of those. He had also been a limo-driver under the empolyment of Seto's 'father', but had been fired for being to concerned and caring when around the two young boys. For that reason, Seto didn't even have a second thought about rehiring the man when Gozuboro died._ 'He's one of the few good ones,' _Seto thought, a look of appreciation in his eyes. He turned and entered the office of his optometrist.

He sat in the waiting room, staring as the news flashed on the tv screen. He may be Seto Kaiba, but if the doctor was busy, then the doctor was busy! He could very well pay the man to see him _**now**_ and forget about his current patient, but even The Seto Kaiba wasn't that cold. And waiting let him feel a little more normal. It wasn't like being waited on hand and foot was bad, but it did get boring sometimes. Plus, this gave him some downtime and a moment to rest in the middle of his long day.

As he watched a report on a teenaged girl commiting suicide over a Myspace boyfriend that wasn't even a real person, he noticed the screen flicker a bit. Seto looked around the room and saw the lights do the same, in sync with the tv. Then they all just went out. Caught off guard, Seto gasped. A little boy sitting with his mother in a corner screamed, but then was muffled by his mothers hand over his mouth. The small room had no windows, and Seto smirked in the darkness, reminding himself he was not afraid of the dark. Indeed, it took more than that to scare him.

The doctors, interupted from they're work, came into the waiting room to help the secretary calm down the patients. Slowly moving about in the dark, they began to tell they're respective clients that they would be able to do no more check-ups, etc., due to the blackout. A voice drifted toward Seto.

"Mr. Kaiba, are you still here?" From slightly to his left.

"Dr. Metsuki. Yes, I'm here. What is going on?" He stayed calm, seated with his arms crossed over his chest. He could almost see an outline to the man before him in the inky shadows._ 'Then why,' _he wondered,_ 'am I at an eye doctor's? Oh, that's right. New reading glasses.' _He'd broken his old ones at school at the beginning of the week. Well, actually, **he** hadn't broken them. It was that Mutt, Jounouchi Katsuya, running into him just as he was leaving a classroom. He turned the corner and _**Slam! Crunch! **_The idiot fell down, while Kaiba held his ground. He glared down at Jou, who looked up with a sheepish grin. Then Kaiba pulled the shattered glasses out of his breastpocket, and looked at them angrily.

"Heh, heh. Uh, sorry, Kaiba," the shorter boy still sat on the floor, holding his crossed ankles and grinning apologeticly. The glare directed at the usless lenses slowly turned toward the blond. Jou began to squirm, but he held on to his innocent apology. "It was an, accident...?" He wasn't sure if talking was a good idea anymore.

"It is _**not**_ funny, you damn Mutt!" Jou cringed and looked at the ground. Seto could tell that Jou didn't like being yelled at, but that was one of the things that made doing it so fun. Jou was now biting his bottom lip and his head hung even lower. "You're an **idiot!** I should make you pay to replace these, simply because I know you can't afford them. That seems like an appropriate punishment, don't you think?" He was smirking at himself, pleased with making the other boy so uncomfortable and rubbing his low living status in his face. He never could figure out why he enjoyed torturing the blond so much, just that it made him feel better when he'd had a bad day.

"If you don't mind it taking a while," Jou muttered to his shoes," then I will pay you back." He looked up with extremely sad eyes. "If you really want me to."

For a reason he didn't understand, it angered Seto that Jou was attempting to crawl out of the pit of misery he'd created for him. He pulled back, as though to backhand the impudent dog. Jou snapped his eyes shut, awaiting the blow, but it didn't come in the form of a hand. Seto's glasses struck the ground between his legs, shattering further and a shard jumped up, striking him across his closed left eye. Jou hissed at the pain, but kept his eyes closed, and Seto stormed off, leaving him on the floor.

"It seems the entire town is experiencing a major blackout!" Seto was ripped violently from his thoughts and it took him a minute to even remember where he was. _'Right, Dr. Metsuki's.' _And on top of that, he had just been told there was a blackout? He got his brain back on track and turned to the doctor's shadowy form.

"All right. Then I guess I should reschedule this appointment?" Seto asked the black area in front of him.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. If the power is back tomorrow, then I'd be glad to see you then, even if it is Saturday. Otherwise I can see you again on Monday at this same time, if you like," Dr. Metsuki wrung his hands in the dark, hoping not to loose such a valued patient.

"That's fine," Seto pulled out his cellphone and held down 2 to reach Mokuba's cell. "I'll come back and we can finish this then. I'll be leaving in a moment; I need to make this call first."

"Of course, Mr. Kaiba. Everything will be ready for you either tomorrow, or Monday. We'll see you then." The shadow turned from him and walked a ways, before bumping into someone. Seto went back to his phone. If there was a town-wide power failure, the he needed to make sure that Mokuba had gotten home safely.

_"Yeah, hello?"_ "Mokuba, it's me." _"Yeah, I kind of knew that; what's up?"_ "Did you get home okay?" _"Uh-hu. Isono came and got me and Arata together. We dropped her off at their house then he brought me home."_ Arata was Isono's daughter, if Seto remembered right. "That's good, how are things going?" _"You're not going to believe this, Seto! I'm locked in the house!"_"WHAT?!"_"Yeah! We got here before the power-out, but when it happened, it completely shut down all the security systems! They basically went into total lock-down!"_ "You've got to be kidding me! You stay put; I'll be there as soon as I can! Could I get you to tell Isono to come pick me up?" _"Yeah, um, see...thing is the gates are locked down, too. Nobody can get in __**or out. **__He's actually been trying to get to you for the past 15 minutes, even though you hadn't called."_ "It's okay, Mokuba; I'll try to get home as soon as possible. Just STAY PUT!! Get something to eat and wait for me." _"Okay, just hurry back soon. Bye, for now."_

Mokuba hung up the phone. Seto kept his out and stood up. As he headed toward the door, he decided to call up one of the other chauffeur's at Kaiba Corp. that were kept around to transport ambassadors from other companies around town. Turning in the dark in the direction of the door, he stepped forward and walked _**Slam! **_into god knows who. His cell flipped out of his hand and across the floor behind him. Before he could turn around to find it, there was a series of sharp _**Crack! Snap! Crunch! **_sounds.Turning around with slow shock, Seto's mouth hung open upon seeing the destroyed remains of his cell sparking on the carpet of the waiting room. Clenching his teeth so as not to scream in anger, Seto merely turned back around and found his way to the door.

Outside the sun was blinding and Seto squinted up at the sky. Hopelessness washed over him for the first time in 13 years. This was ridiculous! All the power in his home was out, his phone was now nonexistant, and he had no way of getting home. There had to be something he could do. Looking around him, he saw a payphone on a near corner. That would do, but this was demeaning. Can you imagine, The Seto Kaiba using a common payphone?! Making up his mind and clenching his fists, he stalked purposely toward the booth. On the plus side, he wasn't in this part of town often(or ever), so maybe no one would recognize him.

Stepping into the partial-privacy of the small glass box, he picked up the reciever. He was pretty sure he knew how to use one of these; he just had to put in some change, that's why it was called a payphone. So he began fishing in his pockets, only to find lint. Switching the phone to his other hand, he reached into his remaining pockets, looking for his wallet. Why couldn't he find it? Where could it be? Then it hit him. Hard. He had left it with his briefcase, in the back of the limo. It was also now locked in his house. Again, desperation surged through his veins and he slammed the side of his fist onto the glass wall. This was impossible.

Swinging open the door, he wandered down the sidewalk. He had no destination now. It would have been home, but he wasn't even sure what part of town he was in anymore. He had no way of contacting anyone, no money with him to pay for any sort of ride, and no idea where he was. The dark earlier may not have scared him, but this was becoming frightening.

Looking out of his gloom, he saw that he'd wandered into an alley. He didn't mind. His brain was so frazzled, his mind in such a state of shock, that nothing made since anymore. This actually seemed fitting; the shadows ingulfing him and dragging him down into further depression. If he could find no way back, then this was the only place for him. He was not one to give up so quickly, on anything, but with everything hitting him so fast and hard he was in no shape to get a handle on it. He leaned his forehead against the wall of a building, his eyes focusing on the nothing that he had so easily become.

All his sences had shut down and he felt bile rise in his throat. His motor functions were out of whack and it took all his strength, just to keep standing. With a sudden burst of frusration, he slammed his fist into the wall, then, with his head still pressed to it, he slid to the ground, craddling his bruised hand and accepting his fate. That was when the first tear fell.

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**Well, chapter one is up. Oh! I almost forgot the disclaimer. So, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, yada yada yada, Kazuki Takahashi does. And also, I don't own Myspace. I think Tom does. Well tell me what you think and I'll try get some more of both these stories up as soon as I can. Thanks!**

**Grace**


	2. Lost Dogs

**Wow, I hate my life. I just got all the stuff for this posted and when I hit the save button, it said I had to log in. (I don't know if this will show up, if you wanna see it send me a message; this is what I think of all that,, (.) ,, ) **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, if I did then lots of bad stuff would happen in my head and none of you would ever get chapter updates!!**

**Warning: There's some strong language in this one and a little bit of a fight scene, just so you know. And, by the way, did I ever say that this is a Yaoi? 'Cause it is. I think most of the stories I do will be. Most likely.**

**Well, I guess that's all, Here's the story!**

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Chapter 2: Lost Dogs.

Jounouchi Katsuya was usually a pretty nice kid. There were only a few things that could get him really upset, one of which was if anyone treated those close to him badly. The other was Kaiba Seto. It didn't matter what he did, or if he even did anything at all; but he always got under Katsuya's skin somehow. The odd thing was, it wasn't always anger that he felt toward the older boy. He could never place what it _was_, just that it was strange. Like earlier this week when he ran into Seto(literally) and broke his glasses. He had felt sorry, he really did. He hadn't done it on purpose and there Kaiba was, shouting about him being an idiot(_'I know, I am sometimes'_) and then about his lack of finances_('Everybody knows, but did YOU have to say it?'). _He was sorry for the first few days of the week, and now, here at the end of the week, Kaiba's words had seemed to have wormed their way deep inside him, and he realized now; they hurt. He had felt it at the time, but tried so hard to deny them.

Yeah, it hurt almost as much as the cut on his eyelid. He had gotton it when Kaiba threw his shattered glasses at him; the glass jumped and cut him. Kaiba hadn't even apologized, if he even knew what happened. Jou assumed that he probably didn't, or most likely wouldn't care. He never cared. _'Why does that bother me so much?'_ The blond shook his head and plugged some small headphones in his ears, clearing his thoughts as he walked for home. It wasn't like him to care about Kaiba's dealings anymore than it for Kaiba to care in the first place. So he just put his head down and pushed past the other people on the street.

_'I don't see what his problem is. I guess I understand why he treats me like this, but not everyone else. I can be as big an ass as he can sometimes, but Yuugi and the others are all nice to him.' _Jou didn't notice that he was still thinking about Kaiba._ 'I mean, Honda can be rude too, but that's mostly my fault to begin with. But he's such a jerk! And he didn't have to say those things about me so loud! I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in that hall and the next one over heard.'_ Jou was so upset, he wasn't looking where he was going. But he knew the way without looking up. He came into an area filled with office buildings and headed toward the shortcut he knew of in a back alley. The power failure struck the town, but there was no way for him to know of this, as he was out in the bright daylight.

The music pulsing in his head made him feel a little better, as it's notes wandered up and down odd octives. The tune seemed to match how he felt lately; weird and just a bit more than a little off. He didn't think too hard on these feelings, just kept his steps in sync with the beat.

This had been the way things were, ever since his sister left. He got lonely, and into fights a lot. Not just with other kids, but with random people on the street(anyone that bumped into him and looked like they were asking for a fight) as well as with his father. He had tried working out his frustration at the gym, he tried getting a girlfriend to calm himself down. He even tried cutting once, when things got a little too far out of his control. But only ONCE! And not to try and die; to know that he was alive. The pain was nice, not at all like the beatings he took from his dad, the bruises left from his street fights, or the pain in his heart when he found that he could never like another girl again. It was sharp; something that caught his attention and kept it, rather than the dull throb of all the others. It was...Refreshing. He had to put it to a stop, though, when his friends noticed. It wasn't like they _**didn't**_ notice the other cuts and bruises, but they knew that this was of his own doing. They couldn't keep others from hurting him all the time and there was no way they would be able to keep him out of fights, but they seemed to think that they and he could keep him from hurting himself. He huffed at himself; Okay, so they had been able to make him stop. He didn't mind being hurt, but Jou had no intention of hurting his friends.

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None of this was his fault. Come to think of it, it probably wasn't that dogs fault, either. Who knew what that guy wanted, or why he would be beating a dog in the first place. Jou just knew that it made his day a little worse to see it, but would most likely make it better to stop it.

He was still winding his way through the alley, when he happened upon the man beating an almost grown German Shepherd. The dog had an odd coloring to it, a light creamy color where it was usually dark brown, and the light of the coat was mixed with blood, turning it a dusty red. The young dog looked like it wanted to fight back, but wasn't. Katsuya slipped his backpack onto both arms to keep from losing it, then advanced on the violent man. The stranger looked up as Jou came up and released the rope around the dogs neck. The poor thing didn't even try to run, just looked up at Jou with pleading eyes and curled by a trash-can.

The man lunged at Jou with a wide right swing. Jou ducked under his arm to the left, then stuck out his own right arm, reaching between the mans head and arm for the back of his neck. Catching hold of it, he yanked back, bringing the assailant's face _**CRACK! **_into Jou's knee. The man bounced back and fell on his back-side, clutching his face and screaming something about a broken nose. He rolled to his left, trying to get to his feet again, and Jou planted the toe of his shoe straight up the mans underside as he tried to crawl away. The kick landed as planned and the man hit the ground, rolling in pain and holding himself. Jou stepped back and looked at the dog.

"Come on, Little One. You don't have to stay here anymore. We can find you some place better," Jou waved for the puppy to follow and stepped over the crumpled man on the ground. Said dog sat up, then walked cautiously toward the man, growled, then jumped over him with a small bark. Watching the growning lump writhe in the puddle from a bleeding nose, the dog trotted off after Jou, on to a new and better life. Katsuya looked down at the dog,as it faithfully followed him home. "You know, that's only the second thing I've broken this week. Not bad!" He patted it on the head and turned out of the alley.

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"A DOG!? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING!?" the puppy crouched under the coffee-table as Jou's dad screamed at him. Each shrieked sentance was followed by a smack to the back of Jou's head, as he sat facing the coffee-table and watching the little dog wince at each blow. None of them were very hard and Jou assumed that his father must already be pretty drunk. "HOW DO YOU EXPECT US TO TAKE CARE OF THAT DAMN THING?! ARE YOU GOING TO GET ANOTHER JOB?! ARE YOU GOING TO QUIT SCHOOL?! WHAT DOES IT EAT; SHIT?! 'CAUSE THEN IT'D BE _FINE_! WE COULD FEED IT ALL THE TIME! YOU DON'T THINK I CAN JUST PULL MONEY OUT OF MY ASS DO YOU?! WE'RE BARELY GETTING BY ON OUR OWN, MUCH LESS TRYING TO TAKE CARE OF A DAMN MUTT!" That was it. Jou stood up. He couldn't take anymore. He wasn't even sure what had made him snap; maybe it was the 'damn mutt' comment. Actually he was pretty sure that was it. He turned on the elder Jounouchi, caught the flying fists and pushed the man back. He could take Kaiba saying something like that to him(he wasn't sure why, maybe it had becoma routine) but he would not take this off the old man. Even if it wasn't directed at him at all. But even though he wanted to very much, he knew he couldn't hurt him. So he pushed the man out of his way and onto the couch, then made his way to the door.

"PHWEET!" he whistled, "Let's go boy!" The dog lept out from under the table and followed him out. Jou slammed the door behind them and they walked out into the glowing afternoon. They walked quietly for a while, just going nowhere. Then, when Jou seemed to have let things blow over in his head, the dog looked up and whined at him a little. "Huh?" he glanced down and noticed the dog was watching him as they walked. It just kept staring. "Oh!" Jou slowed then stopped. He looked around and found a place to sit down. The dog, as always, followed him and sat facing him, with an expectant look in his eyes. "If I'm going to bother to stand up for you multiple times and keep you around, then I ought to give you a name, huh?" The dog's tail wagged and and Jou swore he looked like he was smiling. "I though so. Well, what do you want it to be? How 'bout 'Rosuto'? No? 'Aijin'? OW! Okay, not that then, just don't chew on my shoe! Ow...and I was just joking. Um, okay... 'Chijin'? Naw, I didn't really like it either." The dog huffed and laid his head on the ground. Apparently he didn't think Jou was getting anywhere. Jou stuck his tongue out at him, but kept thinking. "'Ookami'?" The dog looked up and tilted his head, but then put it back down, not interested. "'Kumo'? It means cloud." The dog just chewed on his paw. "It also means spider," Jou tried again. This time the dog sneezed. "Well, I just don't know anymore! How 'bout you think up a name!" At this the dog hopped to his feet and began playing with the leaves hanging from the tree over them. "Hmm," Jou watched the pooch leap and strike at the branches. "Well, how about 'Suto'?" Said hound turned to Jou, barking and crouching into a playful fighting stance. "That's it then! Suto it is!"

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They continued walking on, still to nowhere in particular. It was still early afternoon, as he had run from his house as soon as he got home from school. Mostly he had just been following Suto around, seeing if he would lead them anywhere. Somehow Suto knew exactly where he was going and brought them past a hotdog stand. Katsuya took the hint and got them each a snack; a dog with everything for himself and two plain for Suto, no buns. And it was a good thing too, because Katsuya hadn't brought that much money to school and had to get(in his opinion) a tiny lunch.

"Well, where do you wanna go now?" He looked up after throwing away the trash they had. Suto wasn't looking at him. He was turned away facing down the street and seemed to be looking toward an alleyway. Katsuya tilted his head, trying to figure out what Suto was looking at, or for. Then, just as he was about to turn away from the dog, Suto took off and wove through a crowd. "Wait! Suto! Come back! Where are you go-...!?" Katsuya threw himself after the puppy and fought his way through the mass of people. Where was that mutt going? Suto ducked into the alley he'd been staring at and as Jou followed, he realized that this was his short-cut; the way he'd taken home and where he'd found Suto.

_'Could he be going back to his old owner? Why would he do that?! Why would someone return time and time again to the person who'd been treating them so badly for so long?' _Jou's thoughts were pulled up short as he rounded the corner and found Suto lying calmly on the ground. There in front of him was a sight that Jou never thought he'd see in his life. Sitting against the wall, petting Suto's head was Kaiba Seto.

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**Well all I could think of for the end of this one was the names that Jou was thinking up for the dog. _Rosuto_ is what the Japanese say for _lost_(I guess they don't have a word of their own), _Aijin _is _lover_(kind of a joke there), _Chijin _was _friend, _and I think _Ookami _was like _strength_ or something. _Suto _is _strike_ and I used it 'cause I liked it(plus, sounds like Seto).**

**Well, that's all, I love all of you who review, so please do! I might get some more up in a while, but I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you(or me). Hope you all like it! See you again soon!**

**Grace**


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